Means for recovering stranded ships.



.l. W. CHURCH. MEANS FOR RECOVERING STRANDED SHIPS.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 6. I917. 1 ,'%O,12 Patented Sept. 11, 1917.

josmz 111/. 01102011 /TTOHNEY AI FFIQ MEANS FOR RECOVERING STRANDED SHIPS.

Application filed March 6, 1917.

1 '0 all w 71cm may concern Be it known that I, JOSEPH WV. CHURCH, a citizen of the United States, residing at San Francisco, in the county of San Francisco and State of California, have invented new and useful Improvements in Means for Recovering Stranded Ships, of which the following is a specification.

The present invention relates to improvements in means for recovering beached or stranded ships.

In United States Letters Patent, No. 1,022,771, granted to me April 9, 1912, there was disclosed a method of recovering ships that have been stranded on a beach, sand bar, or the like, by means of cables passed around the keel of the ship and by the employment of suitably attached lines pulled by tugs.

My present invention has for its object to provide means whereby a cable can be readily passed around the keel of the ship.

In the accompanying drawing, Figure 1 is a side view of a stranded ship; Fig. 2 is a front view of an implement used for pass ing a cable beneath the keel of theship; Fig. 3 is an enlarged broken perspective view of the bottom of said implement.

Referring to the drawing; Fig. 1 indicates a ship stranded upon a sand bar or bottom 2. Fig. 3 indicates cables, in the form of loops of which the ends are attached to opposite sides of the deck of a ship, and the middle portions are passed beneath the keel of the ship. Numeral 4 indicates an implement for passing a cable beneath the keel, and it consists mainly of a stout stick 5 of timber of, say, 4; inches square, and of a' length suitable to extend from the deck to the keel of the ship. To the bottoms of two opposite sides of said implement are secured plates 6, of which the lower portions, eX- tending below the stick 5, are curved 1n the same direction, and are connected by a bolt 7 and nut 12. Along one side of the stick is secured a water pipe 8, having at its bottom downwardly and outwardly directed nozzles 9. is provided with handles 10 by which it can be conveniently manipulated.

Specification of Letters Patent.

At suitable intervals said stick.

Patented Sept. 11, 191?.

Serial no. 152,500.

In use, bolts 7 having been removed, the ends of the cable on the deck are passed between the plates 6 of implement 4: at 0pposite sides of the deck and the bolts 7 are secured in place. The bottoms of the implements 4; are then let down into the sea along the sides of the ship, the cables still passing through the openings between the sticks 5 and bolts 7. If necessary, a staging 11 is suspended from the stern of the ship for the convenient manipulation of the implements. When the bottom of either implement has been let down into the bed of the sea as far as possible, water is forced by a powerful pump through the discharge nozzles 9. The discharge of water with great velocity has the effect of scouring away the silt or sand in front of said nozzles, so that the weight of the cable sinks the implement still farther into the bed of the sea. In this way a portion of the cable can be sunk below the depth of the keel. The implement 4 is now moved rearwardly, toward-the 'stern, the curved form of the lower portions of the plates facilitating its rearward movement. While it is being so moved rearwardly, the pump is still used to force water with great velocity through the nozzles and thus remove the silt or sand from the vicinity of the bottom of the implement so that the corresponding part of the cable sinks. In this way the cable can be passed beneath the keel of the ship. The ship is then recovered in the manner disclosed in my patent above referred to.

I claim:

1. An implement of the class described, comprising an elongated member, a guideway for a cable secured at one endof said member, and a water pipe secured lengthwise of said member and having a discharge nozzle adjacent to said guideway.

2. An implement of the class described, comprising an elongated member, a guideway for a cable secured at one end of said member, and a water pipe secured lengthwise of said member and having downwardly and outwardly discharging nozzles adjacent to said guidewayj J OS. V\7. CHURCH.

Copies of this'patent may he obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner 0! Patents,

Washington, D. C. 

